Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Bookshops & Bonedust

It was a decent book, but honestly, didn't add a whole lot to the original story. Some parts of it had me wondering why Viv struggled so much with opening her own business in Legends & Lattes, since a lot of the required skills came decently easy to her in this prequel.
The first act was good, but the pacing and tension suffered heavily in the later second and third acts for me. There was also minimal buildup to the final encounter with the Big Bad, which made the climax feel... kind of hollow. It's hard to have great pay off if the setup is lax. I also couldn't pinpoint a 'Dark Night of the Soul' plot beat, which may have been part of the problem? I'm not really sure.
One of the main relationships that makes up the emotional core of the book--

Maylee and Viv

--felt underdeveloped and almost contrived, and the gut-punch that the ending was supposed to have between them felt more like a slap on the wrist.
In the acknowledgements, Baldree admits they struggled with finding the story; despite this, the timeline of writing the book was less than six months. In the nicest way possible, it shows. Given a few more drafts, maybe some (more?) developmental editing, and less of a time crunch, this could have been a pretty good book. But, personally, it just didn't hit right.

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paigehf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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steph_weigle's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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torikate7's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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thecandiegirl's review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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maur_damar's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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rosa_lina96's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Legends and Lattes sounded intriguing enough when it showed up at my local library, but when I discovered that there was a prequel, well….naturally I had to read that one first. And while I had to fight for my life against work and school responsibilities to actually finish the damn book, I’m glad I did.

Is it the best or most gripping fantasy story I’ve ever read? Well….no. But it feels cozy. Like a mug of warm tea, or clothes out of the dryer. It knows it doesn’t need some sweeping narrative to hold your attention, and it concentrates on the characters and their struggles (which feel very much real) instead. You could really identify with Viv and her struggles throughout the book, and that was what made it intriguing for me. When this person who’s made fighting her entire livelihood can no longer do that, well, what else is left for her? It’s an interesting question, and one that the book tackles pretty masterfully.

I do kind of wish the final confrontation with the villain hadn’t been over with in about five minutes, but that’s neither here nor there. It was a cozy enough read that I’m intrigued about the sequel, and that’s good enough for me.

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